WU police continue to investigate on-campus robbery

The Washington University Police Department has yet to make an arrest following last week’s on-campus armed robbery but is continuing to follow leads and has increased overnight patrols on the north side of campus.

Last Tuesday, at 9:40 p.m., a 23-year-old student was accosted by a man outside of her vehicle in the Snow Way Garage. The man claimed to have a knife and had the student drive him to multiple ATM machines to withdraw money from her bank. He then exited her car somewhere downtown with her money.

“There has not been an arrest yet, but we still continue to follow viable leads on the investigation,” Don Strom, chief of police told Student Life Wednesday evening. “We’ll continue to evaluate the need for the patrols as things go on, [but] at this point in time, we want to do what we can to reassure the community.”

Strom said he envisions the additional patrols, which include contracted security and officers from WUPD and St. Louis County, remaining for at least a couple of more weeks. He said that this sort of crime is exceedingly uncommon but is a result of the physical openness of the Danforth Campus.

“I’ve been here 13 years, and as far as a robbery like this, we haven’t experienced anything like this,” Strom said. “Wash. U. values an open campus culture and worked hard to build that and maintain that, and the tradeoff for that is occasionally people can come onto campus that have ill intent.”

WUPD would not release any additional information about the victim, including her school within the University and would not share the amount withdrawn from her accounts.

UPDATED 8/30 AT 3:30A.M.

The Washington University Police Department is continuing its investigation of an on-campus armed robbery Tuesday night. A 23-year-old student reported that a man, who claimed to be wielding a knife, forced her to drive to nearby ATMs and withdraw money.

Sgt. Mark Glenn from WUPD said they were pursuing several leads but had little concrete information as of Wednesday afternoon. Without further information on the case, Glenn said they are treating the crime as an armed robbery.

“We assume since he implied that he had a knife that he does, so that’s how we investigate it,” Glenn said.

The police would not disclose further information about the victim, including her school or the amount of money stolen from her accounts.

The student reported the robbery at 1 a.m. on Wednesday morning, and WUPD issued a crime alert email to students living in the surrounding area around 10 a.m.

The victim was not hurt at any point.

“It’s very rare that we see person-to-person crime like that on our campus,” Glenn said. “I don’t recall an incident like this in a long time.”

WUPD joined with the St. Louis County Police Department to increase nighttime patrols in the area starting Wednesday night. University police also decided to join with the neighboring police department so that they can maintain their daytime patrols.

“It’s still under the works…but it will be significant addition to the presence,” Glenn said.

The suspect was described as a black male in his late teens or early 20s, about six feet tall and of medium build. Tuesday night he was described as wearing a Yankees hat and white T-shirt.

THIS ARTICLE ORIGINALLY READ:

The Washington University Police Department is continuing to investigate Tuesday night’s incident where a 23-year-old student said she was forced to withdraw money from her ATM for a man who said he had a knife and made her drive him to a nearby bank.

Sgt. Mark Glenn with WUPD said they had several leads but nothing concrete as of approximately 1 p.m. Wednesday afternoon.

WUPD and the St. Louis County Police Department will be coordinating to increase nighttime patrols in the area.

The suspect was described as a black male in his late teens or early 20s, about six feet tall.